Career and Education Opportunities for Applications Programmers in Salem, Oregon

Applications programmer career and educational opportunities abound in Salem, Oregon. About 7,430 people are currently employed as applications programmers in Oregon. By 2016, this is expected to grow 12% to 8,330 people employed. This is not quite as good as the nation as a whole, where employment opportunities for applications programmers are expected to grow by about 34.0%. Applications programmers generally develop, create, and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs.

Applications programmers earn approximately $41 hourly or $85,580 per year on average in Oregon. Nationally they average about $41 hourly or $85,430 annually. Applications programmers earn more than people working in the category of Computer generally in Oregon and more than people in the Computer category nationally. Jobs in this field include: computer applications engineer, java programmer, and software applications engineer.

There are seventeen schools of higher education in the Salem area, including four within twenty-five miles of Salem where you can get a degree to start your career as an applications programmer. The most common level of education for applications programmers is a Bachelor's degree. You can expect to spend about four years training to become an applications programmer if you already have a high school diploma.

CAREER DESCRIPTION: Applications Programmer

Applications programmers talk with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to layout systems and to obtain data on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces. They also analyze user needs and software requirements to establish feasibility of layout within time and cost constraints. Equally important, applications programmers have to design and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation. They are often called upon to modify existing software to fix errors, allow it to adapt to new hardware, or to further optimize its performance. Finally, applications programmers decide on system performance standards.

Every day, applications programmers are expected to be able to think through problems and come up with general rules. They need to listen to and understand others in meetings. It is also important that they decide how to think about problems involving math.

It is important for applications programmers to confer with customers about software system layout and maintenance. They are often called upon to store and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements. They also layout, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcome and consequences of layout. They are sometimes expected to supervise the work of programmers, technologists and technicians and other engineering and scientific personnel. Somewhat less frequently, applications programmers are also expected to recommend purchase of apparatus to control dust and humidity in area of system installation.

Applications programmers sometimes are asked to decide on system performance standards. and direct software system installation and monitor equipment functioning to insure specifications are met. And finally, they sometimes have to analyze data to establish and plan computer specifications and layouts, and peripheral equipment modifications.

Like many other jobs, applications programmers must be able to absorb the factors involved and a problem and provide a well thought out solution and be thorough and dependable.

Similar jobs with educational opportunities in Salem include:

Computer Programmer. Convert project specifications and statements of problems and procedures to detailed logical flow charts for coding into computer language. Develop and write computer programs to store, locate, and retrieve specific documents, data, and information. May program web sites.

Computer Scientist. Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors. Solve or develop solutions to problems in the field of computer hardware and software.

Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst. Analyze, design, and evaluate network systems, such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Internet, intranet, and other data communications systems. Perform network modeling, analysis, and planning. Research and recommend network and data communications hardware and software. Includes telecommunications specialists who deal with the interfacing of computer and communications equipment. May supervise computer programmers.

Network and Computer Systems Administrator. Install, configure, and support an organization's local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and Internet system or a segment of a network system. Maintain network hardware and software. Monitor network to ensure network availability to all system users and perform necessary maintenance to support network availability. May supervise other network support and client server specialists and plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: Applications Programmer Training

Willamette University - Salem, OR

Willamette University, 900 State St, Salem, OR 97301. Willamette University is a small university located in Salem, Oregon. It is a private not-for-profit school with primarily 4-year or above programs. It has 2,720 students and an admission rate of 66%. Willamette University has a bachelor's degree program in Computer Science.

Pioneer Pacific College - Wilsonville, OR

Pioneer Pacific College, 27501 SW Parkway Ave, Wilsonville, OR 97070-9296. Pioneer Pacific College is a small college located in Wilsonville, Oregon. It is a private for-profit school with primarily 4-year or above programs and has 1,123 students. Pioneer Pacific College has a bachelor's degree program in Information Technology which graduated twelve students in 2008.

Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR

Oregon State University, , Corvallis, OR 97331. Oregon State University is a large university located in Corvallis, Oregon. It is a public school with primarily 4-year or above programs. It has 20,308 students and an admission rate of 86%. Oregon State University has a bachelor's degree program in Computer Engineering which graduated eighteen students in 2008.

Linfield College - McMinnville, OR

Linfield College, 900 SE Baker, McMinnville, OR 97128-6894. Linfield College is a small college located in McMinnville, Oregon. It is a private not-for-profit school with primarily 4-year or above programs. It has 1,721 students and an admission rate of 79%. Linfield College has a bachelor's degree program in Computer Science which graduated five students in 2008.

EC Council Certified Secure Programmer:
EC-Council's Certified Secure Programmer is being offered to provide the essential and fundamental skills to programmers and application developers in secure programming.

Certification and Accreditation Professional:
The CAP credential is an objective measure of the knowledge, skills and abilities required for personnel involved in the Certification and Accreditation process.

Certified Team Developer:
GUPTA's Team Developer is a visual object-oriented RAD tool that is proven to shorten the development cycle; providing developers the tools to quickly design, develop and deploy their Windows or Linux solution.

LOCATION INFORMATION: Salem, Oregon

Salem, Oregon photo by Aboutmovies

Salem is located in Marion County, Oregon. It has a population of over 153,435, which has grown by 12.1% over the last ten years. The cost of living index in Salem, 97, is near the national average. New single-family homes in Salem are valued at $215,800 on average, which is above the state average. In 2008, two hundred sixty-nine new homes were constructed in Salem, down from five hundred forty-three the previous year.

The top three industries for women in Salem are health care, public administration, and educational services. For men, it is construction, public administration, and educational services. The average commute to work is about 22 minutes. More than 24.1% of Salem residents have a bachelor's degree, which is lower than the state average. The percentage of residents with a graduate degree, 8.8%, is higher than the state average.

The unemployment rate in Salem is 10.2%, which is less than Oregon's average of 10.6%.

The percentage of Salem residents that are affiliated with a religious congregation, 37.6%, is less than the national average but more than the state average. The most prominent religious groups are the Catholic Church, the LDS (Mormon) Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Salem is home to the Oregon Women's Correctional Center and the Oregon State Penitentiary as well as Waldo Park and Olinger Pool Park. Visitors to Salem can choose from Red Lion Hotel-Salem Reservations, Shilo Inn Salem and Econo Lodge Salem for temporary stays in the area.